The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible and is a record of God's dealings with His chosen people in the New World. The main purpose of the Book of Mormon is "to the convincing of Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations." (Book of Mormon Title Page) It was written by ancient American prophets for our day (Mormon 8:35) and is an American testament of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

A more poignant reminder of the foibles of human nature, and the short memories of mortals, is hard to find in the aftermath of the Japan quake and tsunami. Consider that the people living in the areas affected by the tsunami had ample warning...600 years'-worth or more...that they were playing a dangerous game choosing to dwell in certain areas.

Modern sea walls failed to protect coastal towns from Japan's destructive tsunami last month. But in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, a single centuries-old tablet saved the day.

"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants," the stone slab reads. "Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point."

It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying communities elsewhere and killed thousands along Japan's northeastern shore.

Hundreds of such markers dot the coastline, some more than 600 years old. Collectively they form a crude warning system for Japan, whose long coasts along major fault lines have made it a repeated target of earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries.

The markers don't all indicate where it's safe to build. Some simply stand _ or stood, washed away by the tsunami _ as daily reminders of the risk. "If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis," reads one. In the bustle of modern life, many forgot.

...

"People had this crucial knowledge, but they were busy with their lives and jobs, and many forgot," said Yotaru Hatamura, a scholar who has studied the tablets.

Isn't that just how it is? In the bustle of modern life, we always forget what's most important. In a physical sense, people in Japan lost their lives because of preference for the convenience or prestige or desirability of living so near the ocean even when they should have realized the dangers. In a spiritual sense, how many of us, for the same reasons, pitch our tents toward Babylon, which succumbed anciently, which we've since rebuilt and, we are promised, will be destroyed again in the future?

One stone marker warned of the danger in the coastal city of Kesennuma: "Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables."

Tetsuko Takahashi, 70, safe in her hillside house, watched from her front window as others ignored that advice. She saw an ocean liner swept half a mile (nearly a kilometer) in from the port, crushing buildings in its path.

"After the earthquake, people went back to their homes to get their valuables and stow their 'tatami' floor mats. They all got caught," she said.

We have acquired more technology and creature comforts from the last 150 years of progress than the world has ever accumulated during the previous 5,000 years. But what good will they be to us if we're dying spiritually? We can't take them with us, so why do we act like we can?

"It takes about three generations for people to forget. Those that experience the disaster themselves pass it to their children and their grandchildren, but then the memory fades," he said.

The tightly-knit community of Aneyoshi, where people built homes above the marker, was an exception.

"Everybody here knows about the markers. We studied them in school," said Yuto Kimura, 12, who guided a recent visitor to one near his home. "When the tsunami came, my mom got me from school and then the whole village climbed to higher ground."

Moroni, on the American continent, and his father, Mormon, before him engraved their warnings in solid metal...gold, even...to forewarn us of the tsunami of wickedness and genocide they had just experienced. They were also commanded to warn us against the pride of our hearts and calamities that God had revealed to them in visions that we would choose for ourselves in our day. Again, those prophecies were both temporal (physical) and spiritual.

Will you heed those warnings, so carefully preserved and perpetuated in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other sacred scripture? Or will you build your dwelling close to the Great and Spacious Building just before it is destroyed?Related articles

What is the Book of Mormon?

Where can I get a copy of the Book of Mormon?

Haven't read the Book of Mormon yet? Why not?

Don't judge this book by its cover or by what you might think you know about it. Take some time to read it. We have read it numerous times and are posting topics here to help you as you read. As Herbert Spencer once said, “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

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